Return of the Ancient Mage

by Zoshe

Chapter 44: Jailbreak

Cadence guided them back to the room where Twilight had found her earlier. None of them had realized how cold the throne room had actually gotten with the large hole torn out of the wall until they stepped in range of the roaring fire that was burning in the mantle.

Applejack carried the injured Spectrum in from the other room and deposited him by the fire. Luna did the same with Clover, who had yet to awaken since his battle with Sombra inside his prison. Both of them laid next to their respective charges, doing their best to keep them warm.

"Don't you be gettin any funny ideas, ya hear?" Said Applejack as the changeling pressed harder into her side.

"I'm too tired to make a move on you if that's what you're worried about," he said. "Try flirting with me again once I'm feeling better."

She got a little red at that response, but didn't comment further.

Celestia sat down opposite Luna and smiled at how happy her sister looked right now. Luna had moved Clover so he was curled up next to her and where she could easily watch the slow rising and falling of his chest as he slumbered.

"I've never seen auntie Luna like this," Cadence said quietly as she sat down next to Celestia.

"It's been many years since I've seen her this happy," Celestia said softly. "I never would've expected them to reunite like this, but now that they have, I'm hoping nothing will tear them apart again."

"I hope so too," said Cadence. "They look good together. What do you think, Twilight?" She turned to look at her. "Twilight?"

Apparently the recent events had finally slowed down enough for Twilight to process everything that just happened. One of her eyes were twitching and she was barely responding to Rarity and Pinkie poking her in the side. "It shouldn't have broken..." She said under her breath. "Magic doesn't behave like that... Cupcakes... Where did the cupcakes come from?..."

"Oh dear," said Rarity as she looked over at Pinkie Pie. "What did you do this time? She only acts like this when you're being extra Pinkie."

"It wasn't me this time. Honest," Pinkie swore as she picked up another one of the cupcakes that had been conjured up only a few minutes ago.

Twilight locked her manic eyes on Pinkie Pie as she began to shake her by her shoulders, "I need to know. How did any of that just happen?! What was Ret doing? Why was Clover putting on an act? What was the point of all that?"

"Jeez, Twilight," Pinkie said as she flinched away from her. "I thought it was obvious." She began to gesture with her hooves for what didn't realize wasn't so obvious. "Some of what was over there, needed to be over here, but it didn't want to be over here. So he had to make it want to be over here by pretending to be some of what was over there."

"I don't follow at all, Pinkie..." Twilight whined. "And what exactly was Ret supposed to be doing during all of that." She grabbed her head with both hooves. "I don't get it."

"Oh that's easy," Pinkie dismissed. "She was just telling a very convincing lie. I wish she didn't have to be such a big meenie about it but, meh. Cupcake?" Pinkie held out one of the conjured deserts.

Twilight looked like she was about to blow a fuse as she stared at the impossible treat, but it was Princess Cadence to the rescue. "Twilight?" She said, instantly getting her attention. When Twilight looked her way, Cadence took a deep breath with a hoof pressed to her chest follow by slowly letting the breath out while extending the same hoof. She repeated the motion several times until Twilight began mimicking her actions. This went on for about a minute until Twilight started to look far more relaxed.

"Feeling better?" Cadence asked from behind a grin.

Twilight slowly nodded. "A bit," she said. "I guess I should probably just let this go, huh?"

"That would probably be for the best, darling," Rarity nodded along.

"There's something I still don't get," Cadence said as she looked over to Luna. "Auntie Luna?" She asked, causing Luna to look up from where her lover was sleeping by her side. "You stopped me from getting in the way. How did you know it was going to be alright?"

Luna smiled back at her. "It was because of him," she nodded her head to gesture at the creature sleeping by Applejack's side. "Between the loyalty he's shown towards Clover and the fact that he sacrificed himself to save one of his allies, I knew something was amiss." She looked back down at the golden alicorn sleeping next to her. "I had faith that everything would be all right."

Cadence looked over at Spectrum and screwed her eyes at him, "I wanted to ask earlier, but it seemed like a bad time. What exactly is he?"

"He's a changeling, niece," Celestia said as she quickly lowered one of her wings to the other side of Cadence and held her closer to her side.

It was a good thing she did, too. No sooner had she spoken, that Cadence had tensed up and started to hyperventilate. She tried to struggle out of Celestia's embrace, but the elder alicorn held her firm. The only reaction that Cadence got when she looked up at her was for Celestia to place a hoof against her own chest and proceed to run Cadence through the same breathing exercises that she had just done with Twilight. It took just as long for her to calm down.

"Ok..." Cadence said once she had calmed down. "So he's a changeling, but he's a good changeling?"

"I'm starting to feel that there's a lot more to learn about them than what we saw at your wedding," said Celestia.

"Ok..." Cadence said warily. "As long as I don't have to worry about Chrysalis suddenly trying to break down my... AHH!" Cadence's words were cut off as she let out a sharp breath. She jumped to her hooves and began to look around for something.

"Heavens. Are you all right, darling?" Rarity said from her own resting place.

Clover's head popped up from where he was sleeping next to the Luna, a look of dread upon his face. "I didn't feel that... Please tell me I didn't feel that."

"I don't even know what that was," she admitted. "But that was weird. It felt like something was... AHH! There it is again!"

"No no no no no," he scrambled to his hooves, stumbling for a moment as he raced towards the door. "That was two of them. We need to go, now!"

"What happened?" Asked Twilight as everyone else started to follow him.

Clover didn't stop to answer if he even had a chance to hear her in the first place, he was out the door too quickly.

---

Clover ran through the hall at a full gallop. Everyone else had just barely caught up when both Clover and Cadence cried out for a third time.

"Too hard," said Clover under his heavy breathing. "I've worked too hard to have it all fall apart now."

The first sign that something was wrong was the two unconscious guards laying at the entrance to the throne room. Clover didn't even stop to look at them as he threw the doors open and rushed inside.

When everyone else made it inside, they saw what had the alicorn so worked up. Three of the crystal pillars had been thrown to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. The chains that had tied Sombra to each of those pillars were now missing and the demon now pulled and thrashed at the remaining two. Large cracks were glowing as they ran up the length of each of them and flying at the top of one of them was a lone pegasus guard doing his best to push it over.

"Stop!" Clover shouted as he leapt at the saboteur in an attempt to stop them.

He never made it though. Sombra was determined to protect his liberator as he raised one of his freed paws and with one powerful swipe, he swatted the pony out of the air. Clover was sent sailing over their heads directly into the door they had just entered through, knocking it off its hinges and into the opposite wall, a crater now in the middle of it.

"Flash! You're Flash Sentry aren't you?!" Shouted Cadence up to the pegasus. "Why are you doing this?!"

Flash paused in his efforts for a moment, just long enough to look down at them. A dark purple mist filled his eyes as he stared blankly down at them. "Long live the king," was the last thing he said before he brought the pillar down.

As it shattered, the chain that connected it to Sombra dissolved into mist, freeing the last of his legs. With only his neck still fastened, he dug all four paws into the ground and pulled with all his might. It only took a moment to topple the last pillar and break the final chain. Once he was free, he arched his back and howled to the sky. The force of his cry causing everyone to stagger as the ground at their hooves shook and cracked. The throne room was quickly turning into a minefield of broken stone until finally the circle that surrounded the beast shattered along with the ground it stood upon, the last remnants of the magic that kept it contained now dissipating.

The beast just stood there for a moment, taking in the sight of all that stood before it. A soft growl echoing in its throat as its oily fur bristled in the wind coming from the broken window. His gaze eventually fell on the orange pegasus that stood before him. Flash stood before him, head bowed and completely at the Sombra's mercy. The jagged maw of the dark king cracked and rush of air could be heard as it inhaled. Shadows were pulled from Flash's ears, nose and mouth as he seized up under the breath.

The darkness was sucked into Sombra's throat as it was pulled from the guard. Once the last of it left Flash's body, he collapsed to the ground in a heap and remained still. Sombra's eyes lit up as his jaws closed around the final remnants of the fog. He resettled on his paws once more and his mouth cracked open yet again.

"Whole at last," he said, his gravely voice sending a chill down everyone's spine.

"He spoke," said Twilight, her lower lip quivering. "He spoke. That's bad right?"

"Yeah. That's bad," came Clover's voice from behind them. They glanced back to see him pull himself from the wreckage of the door. A large cut could be seen down his side and a wing hung limply at his side. "Be careful. If his mind is in tact, he could be capable of anything."

"Ah, Clover," as Sombra sauntered forward, his large body quickly towered over everyone else. "My old nemesis. You don't seem to be doing too well. Are you feeling hollow? Does your strength fail you now, at your most important moment in the last thousand years? Last I checked, you don't injure so easily."

"I've enough strength left to put you down!" Clover shouted back.

"False bravado will not avail you." A deepthroated chuckle shook free from his chest. "I can see that you are barely able to stand."

"He's not alone though!" Came a shout from between them. Sombra lowered his gaze to see that it was Princess Luna who had spoken. "And we shall be damned before we allow any harm to befall our beloved."

A savage grin broke out on his face. "That's right," he said. "Clover has feelings for you. I wonder how he would react if I broke you in front of him?"

"Luna! Run!" Clover shouted just as Sombra lunged at the group of ponies.

Everyone scattered as the creature came down on the ground where they had just been standing. Broken chunks of crystal were kicked up into the air with the force of the impact. As he turned around, a bright light filled his vision as a blast of magic came streaming from the solar princess. Sombra flinched away as the burning light collided with his fur.

He must've recoiled more from surprise than actual pain, for it was barely a moment before he stood upright again. His eyes focusing on Celestia as a cackle escaped his throat. "It seems you're a thousand years too late to be much of a threat anymore. Clover may have been keeping me captive, but I've still been able to amass power while I wait for my moment." He slowly sauntered towards her while paying as much attention to her ongoing attack as one would an annoying fly.

"My sister is not the only who would stand against you!" Luna announced as she landed next to Celestia and added her own magic in and attempt to push the beast back.

Sombra barely slowed when the midnight blue magic from Luna hit him. He just continued to push forward while licking his lips, eager to sink his teeth into flesh.

Twilight was the next to add her strength to the fray and while he didn't seem to even notice as a purple stream of power connected with him, he did pause when a couple of green threads came up over his back and fastened around his shoulders. He stopped and seemed to consider the bindings for a moment as he turned to face their source. Several of the threads snapped as he looked at the golden alicorn. "You've fallen so far, Clover," he said while sounding bored. "You're hardly worth the effort." He turned back to his target while swishing his scaly tail. The tail collided with Clover, scooping him off the ground and sending him into the other half of the door, it now laying broken as well besides its partner.

Upon seeing him injured again, Luna redoubled her efforts as the magic coming from her increased. Whether or not Sombra was just playing with them at this point, he no longer seemed to even notice any of the attacks from the three alicorns.

Celestia and Luna began to buckle under the strain of their efforts up until their opponent was only a few feet away from them. He reared up and lifted one of his massive paws, ready to bring it down. Before he could do so, a bright blue beam came in to join the other three. Sombra couldn't ignore this one as it lifted him the rest of the way off the ground and sent him tearing through the air into a distant wall. He impacted the wall and slumped to the ground with a look of shock upon his face. Everyone subconsciously followed the source of the blast to find an equally shocked Cadence.

The shock only lasted until Sombra got his claws back under him and began barreling towards the crystal princess. On reflex, she once again let her magic loose. Her opponent stayed on the ground but began sliding backwards, his claws leaving long furrows in the ground as he lost the advantage.

"Cadence! How are you doing that?!" Twilight shouted, asking the question they all had.

"I don't know!" Cadence shouted back as she continued to lean into the attack.

"Figure it out later," Celestia said as she stood beside her niece and once again sent a beam of golden magic at the creature. This time the effect was immediate as he began to lose ground much faster. Luna and Twilight soon joined in and Sombra was once again airborne.

They continued to bare down him even after he collided with the wall again. He scraped and clawed as multicolored magic rained down around him, but try as he might, he couldn't find any footing. The wall behind him began to crack and chip as fissures ran up to the ceiling. Bits of crystal began to rain down as the walls of the Crystal Palace began to cave in under the assault.

The wall finally gave out and Sombra was sent hurtling to the ground with large chunks of the castle falling around him. Once he was out of sight, the alicorns stopped their assault and rushed to the edge. They made it there just in time to see as Sombra impacted the ground and was buried under several tons of solid crystal.

Comments

[Witchery]

I have a feeling that won't hold him for long.

[DaGoomba]

I feel like I'm watching a DragonBall Z battle. In particular, I feel like I'm still waiting for Namek to explode.

[Zoshe]

11075803
give it 5 more minutes

[UnamusedWaffle]

🥳🥳I’m sure we’re not done yet though

[Luckyfanisaac]

She asked, causing Luna to look up from where her lover was sleeping by her side.

Celestia said as she stood beside her niece and once again